Very important info!!!!

[Big Gunns]

Big Gunns is gonna give everyone a question that should absolutely be asked when buying a new snake. If you don't ask this question, and tailor your husbandry to the answer, there's a good chance you could have a problem.

Now that BG has you wondering wtf he is talking about, you need to ask this from whoever you buy your new snake from.

"How EXACTLY were you keeping this snake"? You want to know everything...temps, substrate, enclosure...what it was being fed..and even when it was fed. Not every breeder keeps their snakes the same way. Snakes can be kept different ways and be perfectly fine, but when they are kept a certain way, then sold and kept a different way, there's gonna be issues.

This is very important with Balls. BG can almost guarantee that if you buy a Ball Python at this time of year that's 300 grams and has been kept in a rack on Aspen....if you change the way it's kept...there's a good chance it will go off feed. There's also a chance your snake will get an RI if you change things too much. For example, if it was kept in a rack and you put it in a tank that's drafty.

Snakes adapt to being kept a certain way very quickly. If you take a newborn baby snake and keep it at 80 degrees from birth with no heat pad, it will usually adapt to being kept that way and be fine. The problem is, once it has adapted to a certain way, if you change that, you can run into problems. You must ask how your snake was kept. It can be even more important in boas. Boas will eat no matter what, but if they had belly heat before, and then you give them none, there's a good chance it's gonna regurgitate.

Now you're saying, but "I don't have a rack like the breeder". Well, you can improvise and buy a tub and keep it in your tank until you slowly switch it over to that tank. You can also buy some Aspen if the breeder was keeping it on Aspen...get it eating and doing fine...then switch to newspaper. If the breeder is feeding live, you better be prepared to do so also.

BG has seen it happen too many times. A person buys a snake, then it doesn't eat..regurgitates..etc... and they wonder why. It's not always their fault, even if they do everything exactly like the breeder, just the change can cause issues with your new snake. It is much better however to try and keep the snake like the person you bought it from. You're less likely to have any issues if you do so.

Remember this one simple question that BG has just taught you people. It can save you months of headaches, and save us breeders months of the same.

[illini4x4]

agreed

[thegoalie22]

Totally agree BG
When I got my BP from my cousin almost a year ago, I unfortunately did not have much information about how he kept him. I know for sure that he kept him well, but I am not sure if it was BP.net well. I don't know if many of you know this, but in most caresheets in other places, lamps are much more reccomended over pads.

[iCandiBallPythons]

Great post BG.